College football rankings: Florida opens 2020 in top 10 of Preseason Coaches Poll

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Coming off a two successful seasons with tremendous finishes under head coach Dan Mullen, the Florida Gators will open the 2020 season the same way they did the 2019 season — No. 8 in the Preseason Coaches Poll. The first set of national top 25 rankings were released on Thursday with Florida opening up only one spot lower than it finished last year when it was ranked No. 7 in the final poll of the 2019 campaign.

The Gators were not ranked among the top 25 teams in the 2018 preseason poll and had not been a top-10 ranked team in the preseason since 2013. Now, they have accomplished that in consecutive seasons under Mullen, both beginning and finishing campaigns ranked inside the top 10.

Florida finished 11-2 (6-2 SEC) last season, winning its final four games for the second consecutive year. The Gators capped their strong campaign with a 36-28 win over Virginia in the 2019 Orange Bowl.

Clemson will open the season as the No. 1 team in the nation for the second straight year, receiving 38 of 65 first-place votes from the coaches. Ohio State (17 votes) checks in at No. 2 with No. 3 Alabama (four) and No. 5 LSU (six) also receiving first-place votes. Georgia also sits ahead of Florida at No. 4, making UF the fourth-highest ranked team in the SEC entering the season despite its No. 8 ranking.

Neither Florida State nor Miami are ranked, though UCF checks in at No. 21. In all, there are six ranked SEC teams, all in the top half of the top 25 with No. 11 Auburn and No. 13 Texas A&M as the other two.

Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Clemson (38)
2. Ohio State (17)
3. Alabama (4)
4. Georgia
5. LSU (6)
6. Oklahoma 
7. Penn State
8. Florida 
9. Oregon 
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Michigan
16. Oklahoma State
17. USC
18. Minnesota
19. North Carolina
20. Utah
21. UCF
22. Cincinnati
23. Iowa
24. Virginia Tech
25. Iowa State

Others receiving votes: Tennessee; Boise State; Arizona State; Kentucky; Memphis; Baylor; Washington; Louisville; Miami (FL); Appalachian State; Navy; Virginia; Air Force; Mississippi State; TCU; Washington State; Tulane; California; UL Lafayette; SMU; Nebraska; Stanford; Pittsburgh; Kansas State; Indiana; Duke